


Himuro House

by Yoiko



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Gundam Legends, Gundam Legends 2020: Just When You Thought it was Safe to go Back in the Water, M/M, Proceed with caution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 07:35:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26968366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yoiko/pseuds/Yoiko
Summary: Japanese black bears are, according to some reports, less afraid of humans than the average American grizzly.
Kudos: 5
Collections: Gundam Legends 14: Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back In the Water





	Himuro House

Japanese black bears are, according to some reports, less afraid of humans than the average American grizzly, and therefore more likely to attack when someone invades their territory. Despite knowing this bit of trivia, Heero couldn't help but take it a bit personally when the bear mauled him.

None of this had really gone according to plan; he'd intended to check out a few of the mountains in the Tokyo region, expecting to spend a little of his time hiking, maybe see a few of the indigenous flora and fauna before rejoining his friends for the more standard tourist attractions. He hadn't even bothered to bring his backpack--he'd just stuffed a few power bars into his pocket and set off with a bottle of water and a vague idea of where he was going.

This was how he came to be quite, quite lost in the middle of what he thought was Mount Kumotori, in a forested area much more vast than he would have believed could exist inside the boundaries of Tokyo. He'd already seen more than he cared to of the local flora, and as for the local fauna... well, the bear did eventually leave him for dead, but with no idea where he was, no means of calling for help, and his blood pouring out onto the hard-packed ground under him at an alarming rate, he might as well be.

He was shivering, watching the pool of blood under his cheek grow, and contemplating just how badly it sucked to die this way without ever having achieved his ambitions, when he heard rustling in the undergrowth. He closed his eyes, expecting that the bear had come back to finish the job, and wondered if there would be enough of him left over for his body to be identified later.

That was when he felt something warm and smooth touch his cheek, and he opened his eyes to see a stunningly beautiful young man kneeling beside him. His dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but a few strands had escaped to frame a face that possessed such serene, androgynous beauty that Heero was certain he was either hallucinating or already dead and on his way to whatever Heaven existed for the likes of himself.

"Run," he whispered, "it's not safe here." He wanted to say more, but his labored breaths were growing shorter, and his body was so cold. The last thing he saw as his vision greyed out to nothing was the young man's dark, fathomless eyes, and the beginnings of a small smile.

~~~~~

When he woke, he was lying face-down on a futon, naked under the covers except for the bandages wrapped over his wounds. He was in a room with fine tatami mats, his face turned toward a black-lacquered table that held a vase with a sparse, elegant arrangement of flowers. A soft touch on his shoulder kept him from trying to get up, and the young man he'd seen before moved to gracefully kneel beside him. In his hands he held a small bowl of soup, and wordlessly he helped Heero drink from it. 

"Who are you?" Heero whispered, but the young man only smiled at him and shook his head slightly. "Where am I?"

The smile grew warmer, but with a gentle shrug the young man made it clear that he wasn't going to answer. He checked over the bandages, then smoothed the blanket back over Heero's shoulders and started to leave.

"Wait," Heero said, and the young man paused, half-kneeling. "At least tell me if there's a phone nearby, so I can call my friends."

The young man smiled again, just the smallest, shy upturn of the lips, and he returned to his kneeling position and gently brushed the hair back from Heero's eyes. It occurred to Heero that the other boy might be mute, and he felt squeamishly guilty for asking him to speak when he'd clearly demonstrated his good intentions.

The young man stayed beside him, gently combing fingers through his hair, and as Heero drifted back off to sleep, he mumbled, "I wish I knew your name..."

~~~~~

The next time he woke, it was to the unpleasant sensation of having the bandages peeled off by a wrinkled old woman. Heero gasped, but the old woman gripped his shoulder with a dismayingly strong hand, holding him down.

"Be still," she ordered, and ripped the last of the bandages off; Heero gritted his teeth over the sudden pain, and he felt a slow trickle of blood between his shoulder blades where one of the deeper wounds had begun to bleed afresh.

"Who are you?" he asked, when he felt that his voice would come out normal.

"That is none of your concern," the old woman replied, as she began swabbing at the wounds with a towel soaked in something that burned; Heero clenched his teeth and blinked away tears of pure pain. "You were brought here for healing, and as soon as you are strong enough you will leave."

"The guy who brought me here, what is his name?" Heero asked.

"He is also none of your concern," the woman said. She quickly covered Heero's back with fresh bandages, then gathered up the soiled ones and left. Before she slid the door shut behind her, she added, "He will not appear before you again."

During the course of the day, several different people came to the room where Heero lay; there was a middle-aged woman, who brought him tea, and a younger woman, possibly her daughter, who brought more soup, and an older man, who came to change the bandages again. All of them had dark hair and dark eyes, and a similarity of features that indicated they were related, but none had the same wide, bottomless eyes, the same refined beauty, as the young man he'd first seen.

None of them spoke to him, other than to tell him that any questions he asked were none of his concern.

~~~~~

It was well past midnight, and Heero was restlessly shifting on the futon, unable to comfortably sleep on either side, and aching from lying flat on the hard floor. The door slid open, and in came the young man. Heero sat up and opened his mouth to speak, and the young man moved to him swiftly, pressing a finger over Heero's lips. Heero was silent, losing himself in those dark, dark eyes, drawn into the depths. The two boys slowly moved closer, their breaths mingling, and it seemed less a conscious decision than an act of gravity that brought them together at last, lips meeting in a slow, innocent kiss.

The young man broke the kiss abruptly, ducking his head in a shy manner that utterly charmed Heero. "I don't even know your name," he whispered, and, daring greatly, reached up to brush a few loose strands of hair back from the young man's cheek, his heart beating hard as the other boy responded by nuzzling his hand. It seemed dangerous, this warm rush of affection for someone he had only just met... but dangerous or not, the connection had been made and it couldn't be undone.

"Please..." Heero started, but the young man silenced him with another kiss, more confident, and when Heero moved to deepen it, the lips under his parted willingly. 

A shuffling in the hallway startled them both, and they froze, still breathing as one, until the footsteps moved past and faded down the hallway. The young man gave Heero one last, hurried kiss, and then started to leave.

"Please, just your name," Heero whispered, as the door slid almost soundlessly open.

"Wufei," came the reply, before the door slid shut, and Heero was alone again.

"Wufei," Heero whispered, and traced over his lips with his fingertips, and lay back down again. It would be a long time before he would be able to go back to sleep.

~~~~~

When morning came, the old woman and the man of the house came to the room where Heero was staying. They gave him breakfast, and the man announced that he would see Heero safely off the property. 

"What about Wu-what about the guy who brought me here?" Heero asked; the two of them didn't seem to have noticed his near-slip. "Can I at least say goodbye to him?"

"He is unavailable," said the old woman, and for a moment she looked sorrowful.

"He knows the task that awaits him," said the man, in a flat tone of voice that left no room for further inquiry. Heero bowed his head, and humbly thanked the two for their hospitality.

"Please express my thanks to him as well," he added. "That guy saved my life."

The man grunted noncommittally, and without any further niceties he handed Heero the clothes he'd arrived in, cleaned and mended but obviously the worse for wear. It occurred to Heero that his friends would be frantic by now, and so when the man indicated he was ready to leave, Heero followed obediently.

The house was grand; it looked like an old structure, but the tatami mats and shoji screens were new, and the flowers were fresh. The garden was well-kept, and Heero spotted a koi leaping out of the pond as they walked by. 

Once they had stepped off of the property, the wild woods surrounded them again. Heero followed the man along a path that barely seemed to exist in places, which doubled back on itself and meandered in circles. After the fifth time seeing the same lightning-struck tree with the mushrooms growing at its base, Heero realized that the man was trying to make sure he wouldn't be able to retrace his steps.

"I can't thank you enough for all you and your household have done for me," Heero said. "I'm sure my friends must be worried sick. But if there's any way I can repay you..."

"You can repay us by staying well clear of this place," the man interrupted, and stopped abruptly, pointing to a clear trail ahead of them. "Go, and don't return."

Heero ducked his head, and without any further niceties, he left. It was an easy enough walk back, now that he had the path laid out for him, and it was only an hour or two--mercifully without a reappearance of the bear--before he found the path widening out into a dirt road, and then almost before he knew it, he was back in civilization.

~~~~~

His friends were torn between being overjoyed and furious when he finally returned to the hotel, but they seemed to settle on being relieved that he'd survived the whole ordeal. Despite his protests, they took him directly to the hospital, where the doctor saw fit to stitch up his wounds, inject him with a tetanus booster, and load him up with a bottle of antibiotics that Duo promised to force-feed him if necessary.

It wasn't until after they'd sat down for dinner that Heero had the chance to tell his story, and by the time he was done, Quatre was staring at him wide-eyed, and Duo and Trowa were not-so-subtly digging their elbows into each other, snickering over the idea of Heero "I don't need anybody" Yuy finally falling in love.

"I'm not in love," Heero grumbled, embarrassed, but he did have to admit to himself that what he'd experienced was a bit more than just a simple attraction. 

"If that was Himuro House, I certainly hope not," Quatre said, and something about his expression, serious and horrified, caught all their attention.

"Himuro House?" Heero asked, when it became obvious that Quatre wasn't going to offer any more.

"It's just a superstition," Quatre said, giving him a fake, bright smile. "Silly stuff. Never mind. Anyway, it's not like you're ever going to see that guy again."

"...right," Heero said, but he let it drop, and Duo was quick to change the subject to the temple they were planning to see the next day.

~~~~~

That evening, Heero used one of the hotel's computers, at what he considered an exorbitant cost, to research Himuro House. It was, as far as he could find, a very old property somewhere in the woods; few people claimed to have seen it, and many questioned whether it even existed. Heero found himself in a group more exclusive and less credible than people claiming to have been abducted by UFOs.

He could not put Wufei out of his mind; the way he moved, that secret little smile, the kiss. Was it his imagination that Wufei had seemed afraid? The whole family was weird, and he’d been in so much pain, and maybe that just made things feel sinister when they’d been perfectly normal.

Those eyes, though. Wufei’s eyes haunted him. Unsatisfied, he logged off and returned to the shared hotel room he and his friends were using as home base. The half of the room he and Trowa occupied was fairly neat, with most of their things contained in their open suitcases, but Quatre and Duo’s half of the room was just an utter chaos of candies, snacks, manga, souvenirs, and scattered clothing, which had apparently exploded out of their suitcases to cover every surface. Quatre was sitting up in bed, typing on his cellphone, and Duo and Trowa were apparently already sleeping. Heero waved to Quatre, then changed into pajamas and climbed into bed. Within moments, he was asleep.

~~~~~

Thoughts of Wufei continued to plague him; every time Heero felt the itch or pull of his healing wounds, he was reminded. He and his friends visited the Meiji Shrine and spent several hours exploring the shrine grounds and the adjacent Yoyogi Park. They drew omikuji, which indicated an enormous blessing for Duo and small blessings for Quatre and Trowa. Heero’s omikuji said "dai-kyo," which he interpreted as "big curse." Not being much of a believer in such things, he tied the curse to a pine tree and dismissed it from his thoughts, while the others kept their blessings to add to their growing piles of souvenirs.

They spent the afternoon in the Ginza district, shopping, because apparently the piles of souvenirs and gifts Quatre had already purchased were insufficient for his needs. They walked by Starbucks; Duo wanted to go in, but the group vetoed the idea. There were too many unique places in and around Tokyo; they didn’t want to waste the opportunity on something they could get any time.

By the time evening rolled around, and even Quatre was tired of walking, the nagging thoughts of Wufei had become a constant itch in the back of Heero’s mind. He needed to see him again. Maybe Wufei hadn’t been scared, but what if he had? He needed to be sure Wufei was okay. He needed to see him again, tell him he wanted to keep seeing him, and see if Wufei felt the same way. 

Naturally, his friends voted him down. They weren’t interested in hiking, let alone on a mountain where black bears might attack, and they weren’t about to have him go back on his own. They were going to sleep in and then go see the Tsukiji Fish Market in the morning, and have the world’s best sushi for lunch, and then they’d either go to the National Art Center or the Kabuki Theater, whichever the group felt more in the mood for by lunchtime.

Heero reluctantly agreed to the plan, and after a dinner of gyuudon that Duo swore was the best thing he’d ever eaten in his life, they all crowded back into the little hotel room to hang out together, watching TV and eating some of the snack hoard Duo and Quatre had amassed, and winding down. Eventually, they all went to sleep.

Heero lay for a long time, listening to the sounds of his friends’ breathing and wrestling with his thoughts, and then he stealthily rose and dressed, and scribbled a note for them to find in the morning. Much as he loved his friends, and dreaded the sheer volume of anger he knew was coming his way, he simply had to do this.

~~~~~

It was a full moon, so he at least had some light to go by for a while, but as he made his way into the thick of the forest, the darkness closed in around him. The anxiety that had prodded him all along the way was bordering on panic as he switched on his flashlight. It was fairly easy to follow the path to the lightning-struck tree, but from there, he would have to go on instinct. He’d been in such a haze of pain, and the old man had led him on such a deliberately confusing route. Would he be able to find the place again?

As it happened, once he’d found the tree, he discovered that he knew where to go. His breath kept catching in his throat as the feeling of danger grew, and the only thing that kept him from pelting forward was the low visibility and the need to watch his footing. He hurried, though, feeling chills traveling up and down his spine, and the hair standing up on the back of his neck. Whatever it was, was… _wrong_. There was a wrongness, and it felt foul, evil beyond reckoning, and he bit down on on an irrational terror. He wanted nothing more than to be out of this forest, safe in his bed, but he wasn’t leaving without seeing Wufei.

The grounds around Himuro House were roped off with red cords, and as he raised one slightly to stoop down under it, he found it wet and sticky. He stepped into the courtyard and in the dim light from his flashlight, he discovered that his hand was covered with blood. There was firelight behind the house; he switched the flashlight off and headed in that direction by moonlight, sick with foreboding.

The people of Himuro House were gathered around an ornate altar, which was surrounded by a ring of fires. They were chanting, and did not seem to notice Heero; their attention was focused on the altar, and the wavering space just beyond it. Heero rubbed at his eyes in disbelief, but it looked like a tear in the middle of nothing, or a rip in the fabric of everything… there was a jagged gap in the air over the altar, slowly widening so that garish red light spilled out, and there was a Thing, monstrous, oozing, and unnatural, right on the other side of the opening.

As the opening widened, the chanting grew louder, and the red glow lit up the yard. That was when Heero saw Wufei, laid out on the altar, unnaturally pale and still, his wide, dark eyes unblinking. He was quite dead.

"No! Wufei!" He hadn’t realized he was screaming, but the chanting had stopped, and the Thing was creeping forward to lay one grotesque appendage on Wufei’s unmoving chest.

"Get out!" the old man was hissing at him, shaking him, and Heero tore his eyes away from Wufei’s body at last to see that the old couple were trying to push him back to the entrance. "We have to seal it!"

"It’s too late," the old woman said, and the look she bent on Heero was pitying and resigned. "He called Wufei by his name. The ritual will not work, because the sacrifice has made a connection with this world."

There was a moan of horror, and the Thing emerged from the rift and sank into Wufei’s dead body.

"You must run," the old woman said. "Run, and do not look back."

Wufei’s body sat up, and slid from the altar, smiling. The young woman stood before him, chanting, and he grabbed her by the throat, lifting her from the ground. Heero felt hands pushing him, and he spun, and once his eyes had broken away from the horrifying sight, the instinct to run took over. He could hear screams and snapping bones and sick, squelching noises as he pelted around the house and back to the gate.

"Wait… my love… wait for me…" Wufei’s voice called, but Heero didn’t dare to turn and look as he heard footsteps behind him, gaining on him. He made it to the blood-soaked ropes and dove between them face-first, rolling with the impact. There was a furious howl, and he scrambled back to his feet, scraped and bruised but otherwise unharmed.

On the other side of the ropes, Wufei’s body was falling apart as the Thing raged; the soft, golden skin was ripping, exposing muscle and bone as it paced back and forth. Heero didn’t wait to see if the ropes would hold it; he ran further into the darkness, found the lightning-struck tree, and the path back out of the forest, and sprinted as though his life depended on it.

It was only when he stepped out into the open, gasping, and saw the beginning light of dawn that he realized he was crying. Wufei was gone, and probably the rest of the family were gone, and there was no way of knowing if they had managed to seal the horror back in its place. Maybe they had returned it to the rift. Maybe it was still there, wearing Wufei’s body, pacing around the confines of the ropes, testing for any weakness in the seal.

Or maybe it had been loosed on the world. Whatever their ritual had been, it had not worked because Wufei had made a connection. One kiss, and a few words. Heero’s legs trembled, and he slowly folded to the ground, weeping, for himself and for Wufei, whose entire life had been one of isolation. One kiss and a few words had been all he had of this world, and now he was gone, and if the Thing broke free, all of that sacrifice would have been for nothing.

Heero was limping by the time he made it back to the hotel. His friends were just getting up, and had found the note, but one look at his filthy, tear streaked face put an end to their anger. He took a long shower, and cried as he scrubbed Wufei’s blood from his hands. It all washed down the drain, and if he didn’t still have the wounds from the bear to contend with, he might make himself believe none of it had happened.

When he emerged from the bathroom, clean and dressed, his friend were waiting for him. He told them, haltingly, all he could, and that was the end of the conversation. Even Duo was surprisingly gentle with him. They wanted him to come with them, but ended up agreeing to let Heero sleep while they went to the fish market. They would bring some sushi back with them so they could all eat together.

Heero sighed in relief when the door finally closed behind them. He was exhausted, emotionally and physically wiped out. He lay down and closed his eyes, asleep almost before his head touched the pillow. He dreamed of Himuro House. The family, who had failed in their ritual, were all dead, their bodies stacked in front of the altar. The Thing was bound to the limits of the sealed ropes, but since there was nobody left who knew the ritual, it was only a matter of time until the final seal fell apart, setting it free. It wanted Heero, the only one living who had seen it, and now his dreaming self was right where it wanted him.

Wufei’s body smiled at him, knowingly. "My love, you came back," it said. 

~~~~~

When Heero’s friends returned to the hotel room, they found him in a coma.

He never woke.

**Author's Note:**

> based loosely on [this writeup](https://the-toast.net/2014/01/21/scare-yourself-silly-the-himuro-mansion/) of the idea of Himuro House, apparently from a horror video game called "Fatal Frame."


End file.
